Onan & Fateya
by I.J.Girl
Summary: What was it like 20,00 years ago, when fish-apes ruled land and sea-mostly sea-and sabertoothed cats prowled the forests? When humans hunted mamoths?  Sorry, I'm horrible at summaries
1. Fateya

**Well, I'm writing for MvA again. This is a look at 20,000 years ago, more or less, and we're basically getting a feel for what Link used to live in.**

**Fateya is a character of my own creation, based on a drawing I made a few years ago on the way to church services. (I made her up before I knew about fanfiction, so, if she resembles anyone else's character, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to plagiarize) **

**So, I'll let you read now, hopefully you'll like it!**

Lighting flashed across the turbulent ocean, ominously silhouetting the roaring waves which nearly drowned out the sound of the thunder that rumbled across the sky. The river that normally drained its load towards the sea was in a tug-o'-war of sorts, the waves furiously pushing up into land and the water that was charging down from the mountains rushing towards the ocean at an alarming rate.

This kind of weather had most children hunkering down as close to their mothers as they could possibly get, shivering from the rain pouring down onto their young, lithe bodies. Most but not all. Two or three children always stood alone, sometimes hunkering down together to share their warmth and fear. These were the orphans, the stubborn ones who refused to be taken in by anyone after losing their families, or the "deformed" ones, the ones that were considered bad luck because of a mark in a particular shape, an arm twisted in an odd way, a leg that wasn't there anymore. One of these in particular was considered a horribly malformed child, hideous and disgusting, a creature that not even the other deformed children wanted to be with.

Her name was Fateya.

Another flash of lightning lit up the sky and ocean that seemed to be fighting a war, to see which could elicit the most fear in that one lonely child's heart.

She shivered, rubbing her hands up and down her long, thin arms, trying to regain some of the warmth that she was losing to the rainwater and cold wind. Her legs were tucked under her, collecting muddy sand and leaves on them. A short scaly tail circled around them, one of the few Silver-Black Sea Tribe traits that had carried through her genes without distortion. Her entire body was an odd mosaic of silver scales and darkly tanned skin, but her face and head were distinctly that of the Even-Toed Land Hunters, with black hair growing thickly on her head, but cropped short and a sharp little nose pointing outward. But her eyes were as deep blue as the ocean, a rarity even among the colorful Sea Tribes.

An observer from a much different time would have thought her a sort of mermaid, a fish person, a scientific experiment gone awry, and a monster maybe. But the Sea Tribe she lived with simply thought her the ugly spawn of their leader's brother's Land Hunter wife, both of which had died shortly after she was born.

No one wanted her, no one liked her and the other children made sure she never forgot. Part of the reason she was waiting out the storm alone was to get away from the misery that was her life. Unfortunately, not being even out here alone in a raging storm could make her forget.

The only tattletale sign of her inner turmoil were her red puffy eyes and the agitated twitching of her tail.

A lightning bolt streaked across the sky, striking a palm tree that was only 10 yards away from the hybrid girl sitting on the beach.

Wide eyed, the girl scrambled to her feet, nearly tripping over her own tail. Not so much from the earsplitting thunder and the fire that was now consuming the tree, but from what the fire revealed: a Long-Toothed Lion. His glowing amber eyes were fixed on her, he slowly tread closer to her, rain dripping off of his long canines and fire silhouetted figure as he began to growl.

Fateya felt the urge to run, panic spreading through her skinny body, but was transfixed by the stocky cat as he slowly prowled closer.

Another growl rose up in the mane-less lion's throat, as he approached her, his eyes seeming to probe into her soul, reminding Fateya of a something she had heard.

_When the sea tribes learn a new language, they never forget. It is embedded into their memory so deeply that even their children remember. _

She knew that the Sea Tribes had always been able to communicate with the Long-Teeth, should their territories happen to cross and remembering that, she concentrated on listening to the growl coming from the cat, knowing that running back to the rest of the Tribe would be pointless; Long-Teeth were built for stamina, running long distances and jumping far. She ran fast, but not for long, and the Tribe was quite a ways away.

"I will not hurt you," the Long-Tooth stopped, within arms reach of the girl. "Can you understand me? Do not be afraid."

The girl smiled, feeling as though a door in her mind had been opened.

"You…not eat me?" she struggled to growl like him, finding that it hurt her throat a little.

The cat's face seemed to light up. "No, I will not eat you. Where is your Tribe, little one?"

"Why…why y-you ask?" she found herself holding her throat, the growling pulling her voice in a way it had never been pulled before.

"Because you are alone. Little ones should never be alone; many meat eaters would jump at the chance to kill them," the cat answered kindly.

"I do not like my Tribe, them call me many bad things," her smile fell, as she sat back down on the sand, facing the cat.

He came a little closer. "What is your name, little one?"

"Fateya. What is yours?"

"Lodon," he gently brought his nose closer to the girl, sniffing her. "I knew your mother."

She gasped. "My mother? How you know her?"

The golden furred cat sat in front of her, "I was an orphan, half starved to death, she was a young Land Hunter that happen to find me. She couldn't leave me to die the way the Parents decided, she had to help."

The young hybrid now found herself intrigued. "Did you know my father?"

The lion's face seemed to sadden. "No. I had left by that time to form my own pride."

"_Karrea!"_ a distant cry sounded out. Fateya stood up, knowing the cry meant that the Silver-Black Tribe was calling all of its members to come.

"Go back to your Tribe little one," Lodon stood up and turned to go.

"Wait!" he paused, looking back at her. She crossed her arms meekly, "I want to know more about my mother. My tribe is staying here next to the river, warm season means we can come onto land. You can come and talk to me."

"Maybe, little one. My mate doesn't like me to leave her alone. If I can come, I'll call you," with that, he bounded off into the forest.

The little girl turned and ran towards her tribe, kicking up sand as she did so, only barely noticing that the storm had stopped.

**Okay, I can already hear a few people complaining that people didn't exist 20,000 years ago(I didn't think they did until I did some research lately, so) but they did, and more than likely if Link's kind existed they would have eventually met up with a few humans, and so my mind decided to capitalize on that idea and formed a story about Link's Ice age past and a human-Link's kind hybrid. And I took the idea and refined it and this is what came out.**

**I have nothing else to say for myself. :D**


	2. Onan

**Hey, everyone! I'm back with the second chapter, which was kinda fun to write. I want to thank the reviewers of my first chapter, I really appreciate those reviews! Also, I really want to thank my beta, ThisCatalyst'sPen, I really appreciate your help, and my friend, Mizar and Alcor, she's been really encouraging with this story!**

Onan wasn't what you would call a "normal" child either. Unlike Fateya, it wasn't his looks that made him different. No, it was his father that made him different.

His father was the leader of the Green-Yellow Sea Tribe. Onan was isolated from everyone except his father's two mates, his mother and his siblings.

He didn't mind the isolation much, he was only five warm seasons old anyway, and all he was interested in was imitating his father and his older brothers. It annoyed some of his older brothers, but his father allowed it; it was one of the ways the sons of the leaders learned.

Onan glanced down the river. His little sister had a death grip on his green scaled arm, due to being scared the storm from the night before.

"Let go of me, the storm is over!" He tried to pry her hands off of him, keeping his eyes glued on the bend in the river.

"But what if it comes back now?" Her green eyes shifted from the stormy gray sky down to her brother. She rested her yellow head just below his shoulder because her head didn't reach much higher.

He tried to shrug her off. "Kryna, let go! If you're scared, go to momma!"

"You not scared?" Her grip loosened a little.

Onan scoffed, puffing out his wide chest, acting as though she had wounded his pride. "No, I am not. I am the son of Krie, leader of the Green-Yellow Sea Tribe, and I am not afraid of a storm."

"But you scream," She pursed her thin red lips, pointing an accusing finger at him, "You scream and hide with momma to."

He deflated with a groan. "Kryna, go to momma!" He repeated.

"Onan."

The boy cringed, his tail wrapping around his legs. He turned around meekly, "Yes, momma?"

A green scaled female stood behind him, her arms crossed in front of her flat chest, the thick, red lips that characterized all adults of the Sea Tribes, curled down in a frown.

"Momma!" Kryna let go of Onan and ran over to her mother, who picked her up.

"Onan, why were you being mean to your little sister?"

"But momma, she was pestering," he shifted his weight, so that instead of standing on all fours, he was standing on his back feet. He had his hands out, palm up, in a supplicating gesture.

She sighed, turning to the little girl in her arms. "Were you pestering your brother, Kryna?"

The little girl blinked her eyes innocently, "I dunno, momma."

"Besides, momma, she's only three seasons old. She can't be with me, I'm going to do big male stuff," Onan puffed his chest out again.

His mother shook her head in amusement, "And, my son, what kind of 'big male' stuff are you going to do?"

He shifted back to his normal stance, on all fours. "Uh, you know, the kind of stuff Pa does."

"Mm-hm. Alright, I'll take care of Kryna, you stay out of trouble. And stay away from the Black-Silver Sea Tribe land. You know what happens to little boys that go there."

Onan nodded rapidly, turning to go. "Thank you momma!"

He jumped into the river, feeling elated to have gotten away from Kryna.

He quickly swam past the bend in the river, jumping up out of the water.

"Pa, I'm here," he said, shaking off the water on his body. He looked around, finding that no one was there; save for the trees that were only starting to grow leaves and the few plants that could weather the repeated flooding of the river. He sighed dejectedly, sending a few annoyed remarks at his sister, and turned to look at the river again.

_The Black-Silver Sea Tribe. Maybe I could check it out. I've never-_

"Onan," he jumped when he heard his mother's voice coming from up river.

"I'm coming, momma," he expertly jumped into the water, and swam up river, ignoring the little grains of sand that were flowing down with the water and gently scratching his face. Jumping out of the water, he sent a glance down river again, before pushing the thought out of his mind.

"Come, Onan, your father wants all of us further up river," she gently placed her hand on his shoulder, not knowing that she had just stopped her son from wandering into the land of their enemies.

Fateya sat at the edge of the group - as always – making designs on the sand. The leader had called them all together to talk about the Tribe that had settled further up river, saying to be wary of the tribe for some reason or another.

Fateya, being too young to understand most of what he was saying, merely ignored the deep voice that seemed to drone on and on.

She pushed her finger deeper into the sand, ignoring the sore spot developing just above her fingernail as she made a short, curved line. Behind it she made one dot, then a long line above it, pulling out her finger and cleaning it off.

She smiled a little, noticing that she had drawn a likeness to a Long-Tooth.

Lodon.

_He said he would call me. It's been a long time. When is he going to come? _Fateya thought with a frown.

In reality, it hadn't even been one day since she had seen him, but as she was a child, time went slow enough that that morning seemed to have been days ago.

She pouted a little, pushing her legs out straight, and then opening them, closing them, opening, closing them, making a slightly round impression in the sand.

"Fateya, don't do that. I'm not going to clean your legs again," a young female whispered harshly, her top lip curled upwards in disgust.

Fateya sighed. "Sorry, Myrna."

She gently wiped the sand from between her legs, wishing she wasn't as sensitive there. She always got rashes, because while Fateya had inherited the Sea Tribe tail, she hadn't gotten the protective flap of skin that covered between the legs of any normal members of the Sea Tribes, keeping sand and dirt out of the most sensitive areas on their bodies.

And the rashes not only hurt, but were rather embarrassing. Babies got rashes, not children four seasons old, and Myrna - the daughter of the widow who had taken Fateya as a helper – made sure she remembered that. In fact, she made sure Fateya always remembered what made her different from everyone else.

"Myrna?"

"Be quiet!" Myrna waved a black hand at the little girl.

Fateya sent a glance at the river, licking her dry lips. Eyeing Myrna warily, she stood up, sand sticking to her sweaty legs. She wiped her hands on her sticky chest, before turning and running to the river. She tripped and landed on her face, scratching her nose and getting sand in her eyes. Her first urge was to cry, like most children would, but knowing that Myrna would scold her severely, she choked it back. Sitting up, she rubbed at her eyes, whining softly, until she noticed she was right next to the river. She crawled in, having to take a deep breath before submerging herself completely, due to lacking the large chest capacity that allowed the Sea Tribes to have a second set of lungs made for breathing underwater. The river's current pushed at her, trying to push her into the ocean, but, like most other Sea Tribe children, she had learned to swim before she learned how to crawl, and she swum upriver without any problem, the current washing out the sand in her eyes.

Krie stood in front of his tribe, commanding attention with his stance. Slowly the families turned to him, the males standing in front of their mates and children as they quieted down, mothers and older sisters picking up the youngest children to keep them from making too much noise.

Kryna gripped her mother's shoulders and chest, as Honia took her place behind Krie, tugging at Onan to follow her. He sighed, rolling his eyes. _This _was more boring than watching the river, one of his punishments once for being too impatient. At least there were fish in the river that _moved_ and did things, unlike his father and all the other males. All they did was _talk._

He pouted, turning away from his father's back and his mother and Kryna. Tree trunks and small, fast growing plants blocked his view of the river.

A couple slow moments passed.

A mischievous look came over his face as he glanced back towards his parents. Their backs were turned to him. In an older child, the little voice - that would eventually be called conscience - would have popped up, asking whether this was the best thing to do, but since he was only five seasons, the other voices inside of him were still sleeping, leaving him with only one voice - his own.

And right now that voice was whining to be in the river, exploring the territory closer to the sea. His real home.

Slowly he crept away, quietly jumping into the river, feeling just the slightest hint of salt enter his water lungs as he sucked in a deep breath. _Why didn't I do this sooner?_

This was going to be fun.

**Well, that concludes the second chapter! Stay Tuned for next time!**

**Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I made some drawings of Fateya(older than now) and posted it on deviantart. A drawing of Onan, Kryna and Fateya as children was also posted. Here's the link:**

**the-pretty-mariposa .deviantart .com/ gallery/#/ d4uw6i5**

**Just in case you're interested. You have to erase the spaces, FF won't let anyone post links, so I evaded the anti-link-bot as much as I could.**

**_Cuffy Meigs:_ Thanks, I tried hard to do the best I could!**

**_ThisCatalst'sPen:_ Thanks, and thank you for becoming my beta!**

**_mizar and alcor:_ Thanks for thinking that this story was awesome!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! I bet no one here remembers this story because it's been so long since I posted it! XD Also, the summary is so horrible like, *faceplant*. :P Anyway, the document I had for this actually was destroyed, and I lost all of my work for this third chapter PLUS what I started to work on for the fourth chapter. -.- Thank heaven for betas. ^^ ThisCatalyst'sPen beta-ed this chapter, although all her edits somehow didn't show up(the color highlight isn't working for some reason) BUT, this was edited about a year ago...year and a half? LONG TIME! XD Point is, my writing style has changed slightly, so the next chapter might be a little different in presentation. Hopefully I've gotten better and not worse. ^^ Also, THANK YOU to Ragadast-the-choco-Brownie, AKA my Online Best friend aka Mizar and Alcor for reminding me I owned this thing, and to ThisCatalyst'sPen for being my beta, short though that time was. All remaining mistakes, typos, whatever, are mine. ^^**

**ON WITH DA STORY! ^^**

* * *

><p>Fateya surfaced, breaking through the surface of the cerulean water, and gulping air into her burning lungs. Treading water, she opened her mouth and tasted the water. It only had a hint of sea water, which meant she could drink it comfortably. After a couple of moments of fighting the current, she dove back down under, and swam over to the far bank, crawling onto the rocky beach. Immediately after sitting down she noticed a chunk of clear ice mixed in with the rest of the rocks on the beach. Curious, she picked up the clear crystal carefully in her webbed hands, rubbing it with her thumb. She was surprised to find that it wasn't cold.<p>

She held it gingerly, wondering how ice couldn't be cold. In her memory, ice was always cold, always. After a few seconds of pondering, she shrugged, and placed it back on the ground. She picked up another rock, finding it pretty, with its gray lines intercepting slate black, and placed it next to the surprisingly warm ice. She continued piling up rocks until she started to feel uneasy. She slowly lifted her head up, as alert as she could be, and got slowly to her feet. She couldn't hear much other than the rushing river, and since the trees were only starting to grow back, a few leaves rustled here and there, and the crawling vines and fast growing plants weren't that big, she could see pretty far into the forest. Nothing that she could see that would be dangerous. She frowned, tilting her head slightly. Her instincts were hardly ever wrong when it came to danger being around, so why wasn't there anything to be scared of?

Onan hardly had to swim at all, the current doing most of the work for him. All he had to do was keep himself straight while he floated down. A small fish swam by, and out of instinct, he lunged at it, trying to grab it with his scaley hands, but the fish easily evaded his inexperienced attempts and disappeared back under the water.

_Fishing is harder than it looks!_

"Come on, fish!" he cried, giving chase after it, "You can't get away from me!"

He laughed, as the fish headed downriver at top speed, and followed, although he was a little slower.

After chasing it for a good few minutes, he straightened up, gripping the muddy river floor with his feet, and crossed his arms sourly.

"I let you get away!"

The river was large enough that even though he was standing up straight, and his feet were touching the bottom, there was enough room for two more children his size to fit in upwards and still have the water cover their heads.

He turned and kept swimming downriver, feeling the salinity increase. Pausing, he rocketed up to the surface, blinking a few times to accustom his eyes to the bright sun. He gave a cautious look around.

"Yes!" he was out of his father's land. A barrier, woven last warm season by the females of Krie's tribe to mark their territory so that the children would know where to stop, was just behind him. A sudden pang of fear shot through him, but his curiosity was stronger and eventually won. He jumped out of the river, shaking off the water, and lifted his head higher. Taking a few deep breaths, he knew that the ocean wasn't much further away.

"Ooh," Onan jumped at the sudden sound, his heart pounding.

"Ooh," the soft coo didn't seem to come from any one place.

"Who's there?"

A fluttering sound came from behind him. Onan turned around, and noticed an owl peering at him from a nearby tree branch. It was hard to see the black owl, as the gray and brown specks all over his feathers made him blend in perfectly with the tree bark and the rest of his surroundings. The owl turned his small, wide, flat face towards Onan, his large yellow eyes glittering slightly in the sun.

Onan watched him, fascinated, his earlier unease forgotten, as the owl blinked slowly.

Suddenly, Onan heard a giggle coming from next to the river. His eyes widened, as he ducked quickly behind a large boulder, as his heart started to pound again.

The giggling stopped, and all he could hear was the sound of the rushing river. Summoning whatever courage he had, he poked his head out from behind the boulder, looking for anything that could have made the sound.

When he saw it, he almost wished he hadn't. Seeing the creature behind the boulder, he immediately compared it to his kind, since it seemed to have a tail like his, and scales half covered the creature's body. Parts of its skin seemed almost as though it was burned badly enough that the scales couldn't grow there. Compared to its tail, the legs were way too long, and its feet were…weird. They didn't look like his at all.

On its head, there seemed to be long, black fur growing from the top, and as it turned in his direction, he noticed its face was thinner than was normal. He grimaced when he noticed it was female.

She pursed her lips, wiping her sandy hands on her legs again. She didn't appear to know that he was there. Maybe her instincts were wrong, like she was about ice always being cold.

Myrna noticed that Fateya was gone. She frowned, wondering what to do. Losing Fateya would be a bad mark on her mothering skills, making her less wanted as a mate, so with a very displeased look on her face, she followed Fateya's easy to follow footprints, until she reached the river. Myrna's eyes widened.

"Did you have to go into the river?" She asked herself with a sigh.

Myrna began to look for Fateya, walking upriver and mumbling to herself what a hard job she had.

Honia frowned when she noticed her son was gone. He usually liked to wander off on his own, but something was different about now. She turned to her mate, keeping her head bowed slightly in respect, as she gently tapped his shoulder.

He paused in his discourse, turning to her.

"What is it?"

"Onan is gone."

His demeanour changed slightly. He could feel the difference too. Krie turned to his oldest son, Krojan, motioning with his head towards the river. Krojan nodded and loped off in search of his missing brother.

Onan stared at the ugly creature, not sure what to think of it. He couldn't think of it as a _her_, it seemed too...unnatural. After a few moments, it sat down on the rocky beach, and began to pile up rocks whilst making odd sounds that reminded him of the ceremonial songs the older males sang during the changing of the seasons.

He was simply confused.

It was hideous, deformed. Any Sea Tribe would have immediately rejected her at first sight, he knew that much. And yet it looked well fed and taken care of, yet he knew that in order to be well fed, one needed a well to do Tribe. It was just...against the traditions. Wrong. Onan's brown eyes looked at the river, suddenly wanting to see his father to ask him about this..._thing_. And why it was still alive and hadn't been abandoned in its infancy.

Fateya ignored the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach and continued piling up rocks, enjoying the sound of the river. To her, the river was more home than the ocean. Unlike the ocean's wide, open blue expanse, easy to get lost in and lose your Tribe, the river's fast current stayed more or less constant, and gave her a secure feeling, closed in and safe. Like the underwater caves the Tribes used on occasion to weather out a storm at sea. With a contented sigh, she picked up the clear crystal, holding it up to the clouded sky as she turned it over and over. Maybe Moren, the widow who had taken her in, would know what this was. She stood up, clutching the crystal tightly in her hands as she turned to go. She was about to wade into the river when she saw something black in the water. Her eyes widened.

Myrna.

"Uh-oh..."

The black female emerged from the clear water, looking none too happy with Fateya.

"You little clam! Who do you think you are? Running off like that, you're going ruin my status!"

Fateya shrugged, staring up at Myrna with clear eyes.

Onan gasped at the sight of the black female.

"Black-Silver tribe..."

Fateya heard the soft murmur, and turning slightly, spotted the creature that had been causing her distress. She pursed her lips in understanding, while Myrna, following the girl's gaze, and stared at the green child, gripping Fateya's shoulders and pulling her away.

Onan, frightened, did the only thing he knew how; he ran. He ran back on all fours, not even considering that it would be easier and faster, to swim away. In his panic, he didn't notice his older brother as he passed him, nor as Krojan grabbed him and lifted him into the air.

"Onan!"

The deep voice finally awoke him from his panic.

"Black-Silver tribe!" he cried out, his eyes wide in panic. Krojan's black eyes widened, and he gently put the younger boy back on the ground.

"Where?"

Onan's hand raised of its own accord, pointing down the river. Krojan let out a low growl.

"Inside our territory?"

"At the barrier!"

Krojan glanced down the river, before roughly pushing the younger boy towards home the Tribe.

"Then we must tell Krie."

Myrna stared at where the green child had been just moments ago, her grip on Fateya tightening.

"Were you playing with that thing?"

Fateya shook her head, her lips still pursed slightly. She winced as Myrna tightened her grip even more.

"You had better be speaking the truth."

Fateya nodded, squirming uncomfortably in Myrna's grip. The young female leant down to the girl's ear.

"Never speak of this to anyone," She hissed.

Fateya nodded, knowing the upheaval it would cause in their tribe. Myrna finally loosened her grip on Fateya's shoulders, pushing the child towards the water.

"Now, you had better behave once we get back to the tribe!"

As was to be expected, Onan was scolded for going past the barrier, but it was nearly forgotten as he related what he had seen.

The Tribal males grouped together, talking in hushed tones and excluding the women and children. Usually this only happened when matters of the spirit world were discussed or attacks were planned.

Krie stood at the front, quiet as he listened to his men.

"How could the Black-Silver Sea Tribe have accepted such a deformed creature?" A young male, his scales somewhere between yellow and brown, made his opinion known with a disgusted scowl. Krie raised an eyebrow at the lowest ranked hunter in the group, and the young male quieted as an older male put forth his hand, palm down, in a request to be heard.

This male had been one of the Blue-Silver tribe which had dwindled out and eventually had to join other tribes in order to survive. He and his sister had quickly been accepted and mated into the tribe, forming close bonds between the Blue-Silver Tribe's former sister Tribe, the Gold-Blue Tribe and the current Green-Yellow Tribe. The Gold-Blue Tribe, much like the former Blue-Silver tribe, was an artisan tribe, known for their beautiful bracelets, necklaces and rank-bands. Rank-bands were bands worn by every young hunter, male or female, defining their rank in the group. Made from dried out, and pounded flat underwater plants, each one was unique and designed especially for each individual, asked for at the Warm Season Feasts and crafted over the short summer periods of warmth where both Tribes could be on the same beach without competition for food.

"I have heard of these creatures," the male's rough voice gained all the males attention, "They are children of Even-Toe females and Sea Tribe males."

The other males drew back; shocked that any of their kind would do such things with Even-Toed females. To them, the New Ones were too strange to even fathom attraction.

The male drew his hand back to rub at his bushy eyebrows.

"There were many of these. Our males somehow were entranced by these young females, most of which died after having one child."

"Are the Even-Toe females that weak?"

"Who would want such fragile females?" The young male, Braon, spoke up again, "Our females give birth to many children, and yet they do not die."

"There must be many male Even-Toes."

"There are," the older male started up again. Krie watched his men.

"Perhaps that's why our males are so fascinated by these females. No one really knows, the males usually were rejected by their Tribes, as were the female Even-Toes. But, after it was known that the New Ones enjoy hunting us, it was unheard of for a male to leave his Tribe for an Even-Toe. It surprises me that they have allowed this to happen, much less for the child to be raised in the Tribe."

"What happened to the offspring of the couples, Suri?" Another young male, Cron, known for being rather effeminate, spoke up, cocking his head to the side.

The blue male, Suri, shrugged, "There were many stories. Some said that the lonely males abandoned them, leaving them to die alone. Other said that the males grouped together to train the children until they could leave them, creating a small Tribe of children that eventually created their own traditions, not having the guidance of the elders or their parents."

"That doesn't answer why the Black-Silver Tribe has one."

"Why does it matter to us?" Krie finally spoke up. The males immediately turned to him, blinking.

"It is not our tribe. Should we be concerned with matters that don't contend to us?"

A yellow male, the oldest in the group, raised his head from its former bowed position.

"It matters...Because it will affect us."

Krie glanced at the male, frowning in confusion.

"Why, Yure, will the creature upset the spirits?" Cron asked, toying with the rank-band on his right arm.

Yure, known for occasionally seeing deeper into a problem or occurrence than the rest of the Tribe, could understand commenting on things that didn't seem to really matter at the moment or saying things that didn't make sense, although in later years it would suddenly be understood. Yure stood up, holding his arms in the air.

"The spirits might be upset by the odd creature in our land. Or they might not be. Either way, they will tell the Parents how we react to this odd creature, without knowing its full story. One day we might look back," He raised his glance to a large tree nearby, settling his gaze to a particular branch, "And we will wonder why we thought these things."

As usual, to the rest of the group Yure's words made no sense, and they continued their discussion as Yure sat down on his boulder again, keeping his gaze on that one branch as his long tail slowly moved back and forth, watching the eavesdropper squirm uncomfortably.

Onan.

Fateya sat on her heels, rocking back and forth while Myrna frustratedly related to her mother, Moren, in frustration how Fateya had gotten lost. Of course, she left out the Green-Yellow child, but she still went into great detail about how she had to run all over the place looking for the "ugly girl that can't keep herself out of trouble.

Moren listened carefully, as usual, her white eyes following the sound of her daughter's voice as she paced. Still a gentle smile was on her full, red lips.

"Myrna, dear, you mustn't get so upset."

"But, mother, if she had gotten herself killed it would have ruined my status. And then the leader's son wouldn't even look at me as he walks past our fire to the guard post!"

Moren chuckled, shaking her head. Myrna and that leader's son. It seemed to be the only thing the young female cared about these days.

"I understand, Myrna. Now, we must get some rest. Tomorrow is the first day of the Warm Season Feast with the Yellow-Black Tribe and the-"

"Black-Yellow?" Myrna scoffed, lying on the sand, "I don't see why they don't merge already. The Black-Yellow's male leader died, leaving the Prophetess, and the Yellow-Black's leader isn't mated yet! And both are so small they might as well group together already."

"Oh, Myrna, things just don't work that way."

Myrna merely sighed, closing her eyes to drift off to sleep. Fateya watched the young female warily, before turning and crawling up to Moren.

"Moren? I found this up the river," she shoved the crystal into Moren's half closed hand, before turning and sitting next to her, staring into the fire.

Moren turned the smooth stone over, noticing how it just fit into the middle of her palm.

"And what is this?"

"It looks like ice. But it's warm..."

"Hm...You found the clear rock."

"Rock?" Fateya tilted her head to the side. Moren's sightless eyes stared out into the dark night.

"I'll have Groten make you a necklace out of this," Moren turned in Fateya's direction, placing a hand over the child's face and delicately feeling downwards, her hand lingering over the girl's neck, "They say that when you find this, you must always keep it close. It'll bring good luck."

Fateya stared at the crystal, blue eyes glittering with interest, although, being a child, she couldn't grasp the whole idea of what she had found, nor what it had to do with her.

"Okay."

* * *

><p><strong>Also keep in mind that I'm not a very good updater-writer-person. It's been a YEAR, (Or is it almost TWO years? O.o) Reviews prompt me to action. ^^ (look at my other stories with SIX whooping chapters! 8D ACTION!)<strong>


End file.
